Anzac Day Chocolate: NewTree Pleasure

It doesn’t feel quite right to say “Happy Anzac Day”. However, I’d like to acknowledge that it is Anzac Day and to pay my respects to the young men (and women) who got caught up in the battle all those years ago. This isn’t a political blog so I won’t get into my thoughts on certain politicians’ co-optation of the Digger mythology nor my opinion about war in general – suffice to say that I truly wish no one, past or present, ever had to go to war or see those they love do so.

(I’m also going to use this moment to slip in a recommendation for The Scarring by Geoff Page. This verse novel is a stark and moving story of the effects of war (amongst other things) on a young couple and, intertwined with this, evocatively encapsulates the Australian landscape. As a plus, for anyone wary about reading a verse novel, it’s pretty short… and you won’t have to write about it from memory in a three-hour exam as I did.)

Part of said landscape.

Sure, the most relevant edible treat to talk about on Anzac Day would have to be the Anzac biscuit*, that staple of Aussie kids’ lunchboxes made with oats, golden syrup, and coconut. Unfortunately the lack of a proper oven at my house-sitting gig, combined with several other factors**, makes Anzac biscuits an impossibility at this point in time.

But what I can offer you is a chocolate bar that I ate months ago in Bruges, which made me think of Anzac biscuits for the first time in yonks.

NewTree Pleasure Noir Biscuit

You know what I’ve decided? That pronouncing biscuit like the French do is much more fun than pronouncing it in English. Seriously, try it: Bis-kwee or bis-kit. I defy you to tell me that biskweeeeeee is not far, far more enjoyable to say (or chirp).

Decoding the German and French on NewTree’s packaging could easily lead one to think, nay, know that chocolate is one of the healthiest food products in the history of ever and ever amen. With the combination of a 65% cacao content and grilled flax seeds, this chocolate purports to be rich in omega 3 oils as well as three times higher in fibre, and 30% lower in sugar, than “un chocolat ordinaire”.

But since when has this blog ever been about ordinary chocolate?

I applaud the crisp quality of the embossing on the chocolate, and I appreciate that it’s meant to look like the imprint of tree leaves... but at the same time I can’t help being a little icked out by the fact that it looks like this chocolate has veins.

My first hint of the tastes to come in this chocolate appeared in the aroma, which reminded me of coconut and oatmeal cookies. To be honest, the first bite didn’t reward me with much in the way of flavour, neither in regards to the chocolate itself nor the flax and biscuit inclusions. What it did reward me with, though, was a whole lot of crispity-crunchety textural contrasts, as the flax seeds and biscuit pieces were the antithesis of stale (can you tell I couldn’t think of a different word for “crisp”?).

After eating the entire bar, I still struggled to find anything exciting to say about the chocolate itself. It was mostly just… there. It had a nice sweetness, but there were no strong cocoa flavours nor any hints of the tobacco, red berry, or nut notes often found in dark chocolate.

Renegade flax seed alert.

However, the biscuit and flax seeds contributed definite notes of toasted oats, coconut, and golden syrup. See where I’m leading here? Yep. Back to Anzac biscuits. I ended up enjoying this because of the Anzac taste-memory, but would be in no rush to search out the chocolate on its own.

Luckily for me, the other NewTree bars I picked up had even tastier inclusions than Anzac-ish biscuit pieces… but I shouldn’t really give the game away, should I?

*Cookies to my American readers.

** A pantry consisting solely of a few dried herbs, tea, caster sugar (kept in the fridge), two bottles of fish sauce, and chia seeds^.

^ Chia seeds? Seriously?! The weirdest thing is that I brought chia seeds with me to this place, and never in a million years would I have expected to find them already here. I would have expected cans of beans and tomatoes, or rice, or pasta, or other condiments. But no. The lady has chia seeds.

Wow. They must do a careful molding job to get those leaf imprints. Strangely, I don’t think I would have the same reaction as you – I think I would start stroking the veins to see how quickly they melt away . . . Odd, I know.

Oh Hannah! Where are you?! A cave?? First we find out that there’s no internet and now we discover that there isn’t a proper oven! Tell your dear readers where you are so we can arrange a rescue, stat! 😀

Oh and chocolate. I like Anzac biscuits, but not sure if I’d like them in a chocolate bar.

Agnes: Do caves house every species of bug in the animal planet? Then yes, I think so 😛 I shall sit by my window and wait for blog-reader-knights-on-white-horses to arrive! Perhaps you could try dipping an Anzac biscuit in chocolate first? 🙂

Louise: Chia seeds are an ancient, well, seed, and are high in omega 3s, calcium, fibre, protein, vitamins, called a superfood, yadda yadda yadda. They’ve been around for centuries but are a bit of a fad thing at the moment, I think. They gel up in liquids so a lot of people add them to smoothies. I’m very new to them, but I like adding a tablespoon to my oatmeal – makes it all pudding-like! This is the brand I bought: http://www.thechiaco.com.au/

Camille: I think so, but only because other people have mentioned those chia pet things before in association with chia seeds. I don’t think I’ve ever come across them myself! (Gosh, maybe she has a cupboard of chia pets somewhere in the house? That’s going to keep me up nights.)